Stats Suggest Bucs Defense Was Damn Good
February 23rd, 2022
Defense better than believed?
Now if Joe were to ask you straight up if you thought the Bucs defense was any good last year, if you were honest, you’d probably say, “They were OK.”
Too often the Bucs pass defense struggled and, as we saw, if not for turnovers against the Rams the Bucs likely would have been blown out. The defense also nearly gave away the overtime win over the Bills by folding in the second half.
There were other games where the defense did not shine. The win over Dallas to open the season. The WTF game. And of course, the loss to the slimy Saints on the road.
But damn if the stats don’t suggest another story. The Bucs led the NFL in quarterback hits and in takeaways.
Well, here is another stat that shows the Bucs were not that far off on defense. The defense not just created takeaways, but helped set the offense up to score points off then. The Bucs were third in the NFL in point differential off takeaways.
So if the Bucs led the league or were one of the league leaders in so many defensive-related stats, can anyone say the Bucs defense was just ok?
You know what all these stats tell Joe? That the Bucs are not far off from having another dominant defensive season in 2022.
February 23rd, 2022 at 12:19 am
They were an average defense that faced an extremely easy qb schedule. When ever they faced an above average qb, they got shredded. Relied too much on turnovers and big plays to get off the field. They need to rely less on blitzing to get pressure.
February 23rd, 2022 at 12:45 am
We’ll see how good Joe thinks the defense is after next season. 4 to 6 wins max. Maybe less. No pass rush, spotty LB play, abysmal CB play, and clueless safety play. Tom Brady made a 2 dollar whore look like a beauty queen.
February 23rd, 2022 at 12:46 am
4 wins max next year. Book it.
February 23rd, 2022 at 12:47 am
Defense sucks.
February 23rd, 2022 at 1:20 am
qb.01..that is ridiculous..you will eat those words if you can remember them.
February 23rd, 2022 at 1:48 am
Reality suggests it was not.
February 23rd, 2022 at 2:33 am
The starting 11 played less than 1half of the first game against Dallas when Sean Murphy Bunting went down. The next game they all started again was the Divisional round game against the Rams.
For all the crap thrown at T Bowles, in 2022 the Bucs Defense was beat all year, and to get the results shown above that Bowles did just shows that a whole lot of people live in some kind of a parallel universe or something, complaining about this defense.
Yeah the call Bowles made at the end of the Rams game was not good, but just maybe also a veteran defense players could actually execute the play called also.
“IF the Bucs do not suffer a GAZILLION INJURIES this last season, they would have won the Super Bowl handily, but they were handcuffed all year injuries and still won 13 games, and should have been 14-15 wins in regular season.
The Defense was hindered all year, But it was the Tristan Wirfs injury that was the straw that broke the Bucs back.
GO BUCS!!!!!
February 23rd, 2022 at 2:35 am
For all the crap thrown at T Bowles, in 2022 the Bucs Defense was beat UP all year, and to get the results shown above that Bowles did just shows that a whole lot of people live in some kind of a parallel universe or something, complaining about this defense.
GO BUCS!!!!
February 23rd, 2022 at 3:22 am
We have our share of “Buc fans” who seem to be hyper-critical and jump to conclusions quickly. Some of our local and many more of the national pundits seem to make snap judgements also. Professional analyst/reporters, AKA as pundits, should be more disciplined. Fans are allowed to be that way.
Hey, August 1976, are you a night owl or insomniac like me? I’m not up at this time every night but it occurs frequently enough. 🙄 LOL
February 23rd, 2022 at 3:45 am
@QB1:
lick QB2’s ballz
🙂
February 23rd, 2022 at 4:37 am
It feels like fans think the 2000s Bucs defense that let up 12.2 pts per game is still the standard. Folks the game has changed. You can’t play defense in this league anymore.
In 2002 15 teams gave up under 20 pts per game. Bucs were #1 at 12.2, #2 was the Panthers at 18.9.
FOUR teams did that last year. Bills were #1 at 17.0, Patriots were #2 at 17.8, Bucs were #5 at 20.8
February 23rd, 2022 at 5:38 am
Anyone who is predicting 4 wins for the Bucs next year is simply a troll. The NFC South is so weak that the Bucs even with a drop off in talent could win 4 games as the Saints are going to fall apart and the ATL and Carolina are simply not very goo. Even historically bad franchises like the Panthers Jets Lions and Jags are going to win 4 games and even the biggest Buc haters know that the Bucs have talent on this roster on contract and that they will not lose all their free agents. The problem with being fan of a winning franchise is that many non fans often come to troll these sites because their team is the one likely to win 4 games.
February 23rd, 2022 at 5:40 am
correction to post above: “drop off in talent could win 4 games as” should be “drop off in talent could win 4 games in division”
February 23rd, 2022 at 5:42 am
If I were being honest (as you asked Joe), I wouldn’t say that the Bucs’ defense was ‘OK’. I might however use a word like ‘erratic’ or ‘inconsistent’. At times they were excellent; at other times they were gawd awful. And for the record, I’d probably use the same descriptors about our offense AND our Special Teams.
You mentioned a number of ‘bad’ games (Dallas, WTF, Saints 1st game, Rams, Bills), but never a word about the ‘good’ games (Patriots, Bears, Giants, Saints 2nd game, Panthers, Eagles). Do you honestly believe we would’ve won the Patriots’ game (19-17) for instance if the Bucs’ defense hadn’t held the Pats to MINUS 1 yards rushing & forced 2 turnovers? And although we lost the 2nd Saints game, Bucs’ defense did their part, forcing NINE Saints’ punts & holding them to 9 points (3 FGs), despite the 2 turnovers by our offense (which coincidentally scored ZERO points in that game, but you conveniently leave that out).
Injuries obviously played a huge role over the course of the entire season (on offense as well as defense AND to our S/Ts), but championship teams always seem to overcome that with DEPTH. Bucs’ defense lacked that depth in virtually all position groups, and that was a major TEAM-BUILDING faux pas. Hopefully we fix that over these next couple of years.
But it’s still the bottom line … as a TEAM … that counts, and that’s your record (13-4), plus POINTS SCORED (511 pts … #2) & POINTS ALLOWED (353 pts … #5). All the other stats seem to get reflected in those, one way or another. We had our chances to win it all last season, but we were too ‘erratic’ when it counted the most. Such is life.
February 23rd, 2022 at 5:57 am
The point differential doesn’t quite tell the whole. There were times when they were timely and helped to change the momentum of games. There were also games when they were on the field too much in the first half of some games. IMO, slow
starts are something the Bucs need to figure out. We seem to have a history of it.
February 23rd, 2022 at 6:12 am
Far too many games where they let opponents come back and thus made it an unnecessarily close game. Then, of course, the Rams game…
February 23rd, 2022 at 6:16 am
Reality says they weren’t.
February 23rd, 2022 at 6:54 am
For the exception of the Dline….practically the entire Buc defense had injuries last year.
Shaq
White
Davis
SMB
JPP
LVD
Whitehead
Edwards (suspension)
The primary reason why fans think our defense was bad is the last play of the last game….
February 23rd, 2022 at 6:54 am
also Dean
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:01 am
“Inconsistent” but most of the time not really good enough
i mean cmon
And we have good players at all levels. It should have been better
Of course injuries derailed the defense but it seemed that some coordinators had our playbook
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:17 am
Damn good — until it wasn’t
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:35 am
Easy question-Bucs were 5th in points allowed at a shade over 20-Defense was damn good-Move On. If you would like to say defensive play calling by coaching was lacking-you nay have a case there. PHUCK RUSSIA
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:37 am
DAH, if they led the league in takeaways of course they would lead the league in setting up the O. Where is the stat on giving up 3rd down completions? Also takeaways are great when the opposing team is forced to be one dimentional. The stats are a little skewed since 4 or 5 takeaways game from one game the Rams. I agree the front 7 were above average but no one is going to sell me on that porous secondary.
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:46 am
Stats are for losers
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:46 am
Points win football games PERIOD. So a entire season of data that says you were 5th in points allowed means you were DAMN GOOD-PERIOD.
February 23rd, 2022 at 7:51 am
I can’t hear those that play the injury card, EVERY team experienced a slew of injuries, Bucs were no different. What about the teams that lost their starting QB for a number of games or Tenn, Henry and two best receivers, Balt, QB and all their DB’s, covid losses etc. Bucs have one of if not the best LB’s in the league yet White is still not discipline, JPP shouldn’t of played and the rest under performed. The secondary was bad, healthy or not and ST’s added no benefit to the teams success, one might say they hindered the team on many occasions. This team was (is) poorly coached whether you want to admit it or not.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:15 am
It seems like a lot of people in here forget that it’s the modern NFL. Where you are not allowed to play defense.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:16 am
I just remember the last play of the last game. That’s all that really counts in the end.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:37 am
Okay… can we point out the biggest flaw of the defense, please? It’s the offense and their pass happy ways. A good defense is usually helped out with a ball control offense. A decent ball control offense will keep them off the field, keep them fresh, and not forget to run the ball like ours did in two consecutive first quarters of games. Our O was good… but not good for our D. Scoring points is awesome, but scoring a little less points and controlling the ball is great. Most people that are intellectually challenged regarding football will never understand that. We need way more balance on offense, if not, it doesn’t matter how good our D is, they will wilt and falter due to being on the field too long… like our D from several games from last season.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:51 am
Brandon & DR, the offense scored 30+ points in 10 out of 19 games, 2 of the remaining games they scored 27 & 2 at 28 points, ranking them 2nd to Dallas in the NFL regular season. So out if 19 games the Bucs score less than 27 points in only 5 of them. That tells me the problem is on the other side of the ball.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:56 am
The run defense padded the stats the pass defense stunk they looked lost in crunch time.
February 23rd, 2022 at 8:59 am
Sorry, I was wrong, 30+ points 11 out or 19 games. I am afraid to count how many the D let back into the game, Bill’s, Indy, Jets, NO, Dallas, Eagles off the top of my head.
February 23rd, 2022 at 9:07 am
Stats are for losers and licht’s crappy defensive drafts are coming back to shine as you can tell from the back end getting torched and the lack of pressures. D white is trending towards kwon and not luke kuechly, shaq got his money so he is done, JPP over the hill and LVD & Vite are mr. consistent but 9 out 11 will get you 4-13, a new coach and a new GM
February 23rd, 2022 at 9:36 am
It’s almost like some fans went into a coma when the secondary was getting torched all year long. When the game was on the line, our defense wilted under the pressure. Some of it was coaching, most was lack of talent. The offense will take a step back next season and will put even more pressure on the defense. That equals double digit losses. It’s not a mystery why our OC and DC didn’t get a HC job elsewhere. They aren’t smart enough to lead a team.
February 23rd, 2022 at 9:50 am
Unless the Bucs forced a turnover they couldn’t be counted on to stop many competent offenses.
Bucs defense feasted on bad offenses/QBs in wins
Matt Ryan (Twice)
Sam Darnold (Twice)
Jacoby Brissett
Jalen Hurts (Twice)
Daniel Jones
Justin Fields
9 of the 14 wins in 2021 were against bad offenses/QBs. Let’s be real Bowles had one great postseason as a coordinator but outside of that he’s not good.
February 23rd, 2022 at 10:37 am
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defence
Yards per game 331.5 13th, Pts/game 20.8 6th, Pass/Yard/Game 238.9 21st, Rush Yard/Game 92.5 3rd. Yards per offensive play 5.2 5th, TO 29 5th.
Tampa Strength of Schedule ranked 15th on Team rankings.com on powerrankingsguru.com ranked Tampa as easiest schedule in 2021.
My take the is defense was above average but not great. The major flaw was the pass rush, which exposed the secondary. And the schedule because of the weak QBs in NFL really helped.
My take on the offence is Tom still amazing, but when he was forced to do it with less weapons via injury and drama, he couldn’t over come beating the Rams because Chris and AB were gone, and Gronk seemed to play beat up since the rib injury and puncture lung.
February 23rd, 2022 at 10:45 am
There were a lot of times when our defense was about as good as the defense played during the Pro Bowl
February 23rd, 2022 at 10:47 am
2022 Season with Trask, Wentz, Gabbert, Bridgewater Record
11 L 6 W. Assuming Rodgers, Wilson, Ryan, Mahomes, Burrow, Murray and Winston remain on their teams.
at Arizona Cardinals (L)
at Atlanta Falcons (W)
at Carolina Panthers(W)
at Cleveland Browns (L)
at New Orleans Saints (L)
at Pittsburgh Steelers (L)
at San Francisco 49ers (L)
at Dallas Cowboys (L)
Atlanta Falcons (W)
Carolina Panthers (W)
New Orleans Saints (W)
Los Angeles Rams (L)
Seattle Seahawks (W)
Baltimore Ravens (L)
Cincinnati Bengals (L)
Kansas City Chiefs (L)
Green Bay Packers (L)
February 23rd, 2022 at 10:55 am
Without Brady we will need that dominant defense in order to contend. It’s been a nice few years having a kick a$$ offense, but I’d be fine having a bone crushing, soul sucking defense to the go along with a competent offense like we had in the somewhat old days.
February 23rd, 2022 at 11:04 am
NE Patriots, the Rams game was 27-27 with 28 secs left Bucs had the momentum. That game was Bucs if they won the toss. Not sure why you didn’t think Brady could pull this off.
February 23rd, 2022 at 11:15 am
Its a Bucs Life Says:
February 23rd, 2022 at 9:50 am
Unless the Bucs forced a turnover they couldn’t be counted on to stop many competent offenses.
Bucs defense feasted on bad offenses/QBs in wins
Matt Ryan (Twice)
Sam Darnold (Twice)
Jacoby Brissett
Jalen Hurts (Twice)
Daniel Jones
Justin Fields
9 of the 14 wins in 2021 were against bad offenses/QBs. Let’s be real Bowles had one great postseason as a coordinator but outside of that he’s not good.
*************************************************************************
You left out:
Zach Wilson (Jets)
That’s 10 out of 14 wins
The only good QB’s the Bucs beat were:
Josh Allen who rallied from down 24-3 at half
Carson Wentz meh
Dak though the Cowboy kicker gifted us this game by leaving 4 pts on field
Mac Jones a rookie
You can’t always count on turnovers. Sometimes you need 3rd down stops and getting teams to settle for FG’s once in the redzone. The weak schedule definitely bumped up the rankings. 2022 schedule will really show how bad this defense has been.
February 23rd, 2022 at 11:27 am
Bowles and Leftwich were the restaurant assistant managers surfing the internet for job opportunities when a $5,000 catering order was due in 2 hours.
February 23rd, 2022 at 12:34 pm
Unfortunately this upcoming season will be the true test of Bucs defense if they can keep the team competitive during a very tough schedule. 2019 Bucs defense was the only time in more than a decade that Bucs had an average offense, but the games were competitive because of the defense doing their job fairly well. I don’t have the same trust anymore, primarily because of pass rush without blitzing being too mediocre last season.
February 23rd, 2022 at 1:12 pm
@New England Patriots Fan … ‘2022 Season with Trask, Wentz, Gabbert, Bridgewater Record 11 L 6 W’.
Love it when fans predict W-L records BEFORE they have a clue what the team roster will look like. But since you’re so into predictions Pats’ Fan, a couple of questions relating to your predictions:
1 – Who’ll be the starting QB for the Saints? Steelers? 49ers? Panthers? They and several other teams seemingly haven’t truly settled on a starting QB yet (like the Bucs, although you’ve already decided that ours will suck apparently).
2 – Care to predict what the starting team rosters will look like (offense & defense) for each team for 2022? Sorta kinda impacts how well they’ll do (just my opinion BTW, but JA doesn’t allow me to use IMO any more).
3 – Any predictions … by team … on how injuries will impact the season records? They always do, in one way or another.
Could obviously go on, but you get the gist I’m sure. EVERY TEAM still has to deal with FA & the draft, and stick within the confines of their available salary CAP. Far too many variables at this point to predict much of anything. Losing Tom Brady has already changed a LOT for the Bucs (and will change a lot more). Heck, none of us even have a clue what the Bucs’ offense will be like this year … YET. Personally I prefer to stay positive for the time being. No need to turn the dogs loose yet; we have one of the Joes to take care of that.
February 23rd, 2022 at 3:36 pm
List unsure what I said, I definitely think Tom could’ve won SB this year and if he came back I would think he could do it again. We got robbed v. Rams because of weak WR talent in final matchup other than Evans.
As per my prediction I assumed Murray, Ryan, Mayfield, Trey Lance, Dak, Winston (NO), Staffford, Burrow, Lamar, Mahomes, Wilson and Rodgers will stay on their teams.
For Pitt I have them getting Jimmy G/Cousins, my QB choice for Tampa was Trask Gabbert Bridgewater or Wentz
If Tampa get Cousins or Watson 11/12-5, if they get Brady Gronk 13-4
at Arizona Cardinals (W)
at Atlanta Falcons (W)
at Carolina Panthers(W)
at Cleveland Browns (W)
at New Orleans Saints (L)
at Pittsburgh Steelers (W)
at San Francisco 49ers (L)
at Dallas Cowboys (L)
Atlanta Falcons (W)
Carolina Panthers (W)
New Orleans Saints (W)
Los Angeles Rams (L)
Seattle Seahawks (W)
Baltimore Ravens (W)
Cincinnati Bengals (W)
Kansas City Chiefs (L)
Green Bay Packers (L)
February 23rd, 2022 at 3:39 pm
I won’t ever predict a Saints sweep even if they are starting the no32 QB in nfl as Saints own Tampa until I see them beat them up for a few years.
They beat up a Brady lead all star team 4/5 matchups
February 23rd, 2022 at 9:36 pm
Stats can tell whatever story you want. Average everything out, toss easy games in with the rest, and of course they look “damn good”. All that really matters is your eyes, game to game, quarter by quarter. The results.
The D was consistently inconsistent, and gave up critical sequences that lost the season.
Those two final plays rendered an entire season of stats moot.
February 23rd, 2022 at 11:48 pm
Yeah the defense was maddening. They’d routinely get the offense in third and long and call either a powder puff zone or an all out blitz and leave someone wife open.
The weak schedule of opponents offense and turnovers covered up a mediocre d.
Leaving kupp wide open on the most critical plays of the game is just inexcusable. Double him there and don’t blitz and we go to overtime. If BUCS win the rams game they easily beat 49ers at home and Bengals. That rams were the worst matchup for them. I live in LA and went to the prior game vs them and had great seats. Sucks but at least they won in 2020